1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to the field of genetic quality and relative market value of livestock. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention facilitate an owner or potential buyer of one or more sale groups of livestock to evaluate the relative market value of the sale groups based on predictions derived from genetic merit estimates of the herd.
2. Description of Related Art
Ranchers invest significant amounts of money to build a quality herd with the desired genetic merits. Today, ranchers typically invest more than $10,000 per animal in land, machinery, and livestock costs, and then invest more money in high quality bulls. But most ranchers are not able to realize the increased value for the quality of their animals and instead sell their annual calf crops on the commodity market at or near average price. For example, a sale group of calves is valued on many attributes depending on the ultimate purpose for the calves. The top attributes for cattle that are sold to be developed for slaughter (and not for breeding) are the tendency to stay healthy and the genetic potential for growth, carcass merit, and feed efficiency. Additionally, buyers of calves have considerable risk and uncertainty. They prefer to buy superior calves, but have great difficulty assessing the genetic merit and future healthiness of the calves at the time of purchase. Therefore, it is very important to determine what the value of the livestock is and what premium or discount they should command based on these attributes.
Certain breeding associations like the American Angus Association (AAA) generate genetic merit estimates that predict the relative performance of offspring of registered animals on traits that predict market value. AAA also generates several dollar denominated indexes based on the expected progeny differences. These expected progeny differences are usually available only for registered seedstock. For example, one of the indexes from the AAA is Beef Value ($B). This index specifically represents the expected average dollar-per-head difference in the progeny post-weaning performance and carcass value of a progeny of a particular registered sire compared to progeny of other sires.
Recently, some companies offer genomic-enhanced EPD, where information from DNA sequences is used to predict calf genetic merit. The AAA launched a project with Zoetis to utilize DNA-based information to estimate the marbling and gain characteristics of high percentage, unregistered Angus cattle. For example, the GMX™ Score provides documentation to prospective feedlot buyers to assess the relative genetic merit of calves for both marbling and weight gain.